THE CONIFEROUS PLANTS OF ITALY. 143 



give no important feature to the face of the country. Along the 

 coast of the Gulf of Genoa, and as far as the Roman States, some 

 forests of Pines peculiar to the basin of the Mediterranean are 

 certainly found : Pinus Pinea, Pinaster, and halepensis ; the 

 coppices near the coast contain Junipers of the south of Europe ; 

 forests of Spruce exist in some countries of the central Apen- 

 nines : for example, near Vallombrosa and Camaldoli, and 

 generally in the upper part of Tuscany. Forests of Conifers are 

 also met with in the Abruzzi, and on Mount Sila, in Calabria, 

 where the Silver Fir or the Calabrian or the Corsican Pine pre- 

 dominate. On Etna, lastly, forests of the Corsican Pine exist ; 

 but the whole is not to be compared with the immense tracts 

 covered by these trees in the north of Europe. 



It appears, then, that Italy is not very largely stocked with 

 Conifers, and they consequently play a subordinate part in the 

 operations of life. In the Alps exclusively do we find these trees 

 the objects of the same industry as in the north ; here they are 

 cut down, slidedover the sides of the mountains, floated down the 

 rivers, divided in saw-mills, and sent away as trunks, beams, and 

 planks : this work, too, is only found going on here and there, 

 and on a comparatively small scale. 



In Scandinavia and northern Russia the houses are constructed 

 almost entirely of the wood of Conifers ; in central Europe this 

 wood is also largely used for beams, floors, and staircases ; in 

 Italy, with the exception of the Alps, the houses with the stair- 

 cases and floors are built of nothing but stone or brick. In the 

 north, Conifers are used for palisades, bridges, and roads ; in the 

 centre of Europe, they are greatly employed for bridges, par- 

 titions, and garden palisades ; but in Italy the bridges are of 

 stone, and high Malls surround the gardens. The wooden pipes 

 for water and the piles of the north are replaced in Italy by stone 

 aqueducts and piers. As Italy, with the exception of the Alps, 

 has but few mines, she does not, like the north, employ large 

 quantities of Fir-wood. Ship-building and navigation have not 

 the importance that they have in the north. Genoa obtains 

 planks for her ships from the western Alps and from Corsica ; 

 Venice and Trieste theirs from the eastern Alps ; Naples has 

 hers from Sila ; Italy, however, imports pitch, tar, and other 

 resinous products from foreign countries ; but Venice is the 

 principal place of exportation of one of these products, Venice 

 turpentine, which is obtained from the Larch on the high 

 regions of the Alps. On the south slope of the Alps turpentine 

 is also obtained from the two species of Fir; it is collected by 

 the Italian peasants, who ascend the mountains and climb up the 

 trees to make incisions in them. 



The Cypress and Scotch Fir are much more important in the 



